How do we question if we are biased?

Again this year I have the pleasure of serving as a judge for the Telstra Best of Business Awards here in Australia. Hence this leads to more opportunities for further bias training and consideration.

Separately there’s been some debate as to modernising old famous books, particularly childrens books. Should we have to change them or are we just being ‘woke’, fitting in with the current crowd?

I hadn’t realised just how common it is to modernise writings, it’s a well-established practice. The reasons are the same as now, to keep material relevant with the times. However, should we continue to modernise old classics and, if so, where should we draw the line?

Essentially, I’m asking if we’re aware of, and then evaluating, possible biases. For example, in my own country, Australia, our national day is the date when the then Lieutenant Cook claimed Australia in the name of the British Crown. As you can imagine not all Australians find that a day to celebrate. Some other reflections – did you grow up with Noddy? (remember Golliwog who was a thief and lazy? Amongst other characters), The Famous Five (where girls couldn’t expect to be as good as boys), or even religious lessens (when Jesus Christ, born in the Middle East, improbably had blue eyes, white skin and lighter coloured hair). There’s an endless selection of these instances, we’ve all seen them.

So, let’s consider a 2020 review of childrens books available in Australia:

So, if you’re not a white child you are more likely to see, say, an emu or an echidna lead a story than to see someone who looks like you. And when you do see people in a book, they’re just about always white. And that’s just addressing the colour spectrum. Looks like we have a way to go in our bias awareness from even a very young age.

Yes we do seem to have these shrill debates, but perhaps we should follow the old adage ‘walk a mile in their shoes.’ That’s not woke, it’s respecting all people as equals.